Study: Conservatives distrust media more than liberals

Consistent conservatives expressed greater distrust in 24 of the 36 news sources measured in the survey, though a full 88 percent of them trust Fox News. Consistent liberals, meanwhile, were flipped, expressing more trust than distrust in 28 of the 36 news outlets in the survey, though without a unifying outlet. NPR, PBS and the BBC are the most trusted news sources for consistent liberals.

While liberals and conservatives can still easily pick and choose their media to cater to their views, it’s not as much of an information silo as people are led to believe, the researchers found.

“Even so, the new study finds that the modern information environment makes it virtually impossible to live in an ideological bubble,” Pew said in a news release. “Most Americans rely on an array of outlets — with varying audience profiles — for their political news. And many consistent conservatives and liberals hear dissenting political views in their everyday lives.”

The tables predictably flip going down the list of news outlets trusted by respondents. All six of the media sources overwhelmingly distrusted by consistent liberals (like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity) are overwhelmingly trusted by consistent conservatives. And they are among the only sources that consistent conservatives trust more than distrust, along with the Wall Street Journal and The Blaze.

Fox News was the main source of political news for conservatives, while CNN was the preferred source for those in the middle of the ideological spectrum and for more consistent liberals. Overall though, consistent liberals got their news from a more mixed bag of outlets than consistent conservatives. The news outlets with the most ideologically mixed audience were Yahoo News and the Wall Street Journal, followed by CBS, ABC, USA Today and Bloomberg.

Facebook completely dominates as the main social media source of political news for respondents. Though conservatives are more likely to have social media friends who fall into their ideological spectrum, liberals are more likely to see a variety of views in their newsfeeds and “defriend” someone with whom they disagree.

The study was based on an online survey fielded March 19 through April 29 with 2,901 members of the Center’s American Trends Panel.